NicoleEarlier today TrainingPeaks published a blog post that I wrote about indoor cycling. Fitting that this was published while I was on my trainer! I tend to ride year-round on my trainer due to my work schedule. It’s often easiest for me to fit my training into my schedule by hopping out of bed and cranking out some solid interval sessions. So let’s take a look at my “place.”
I have a fairly large room in the basement that is dedicated to me. Smack in the middle of this room I set up my bike trainer.
You can see I have a few other hobbies (but not as much time to pursue those right now.) Often the trainer can be uninviting, especially if you have it set up in a cold garage. This is why I have it set up indoors. It’s on a scrap piece of carpet, I have a towel, a fan that you can’t see and my computer. I’ll crank up the tunes (today was the DigsterFM DANCEFLOOR playlist.) I use music when I’m doing intervals, TV or movies if it’s a longer endurance ride.
While my next event is the LA Marathon, my coach and I have decide to keep my bike fitness up through the winter so I did the following workout:
The pink line is power, yellow is cadence, blue is speed (calculated from the PowerTap), and red (which is mostly hidden by the pink power) is heart rate. I warmed up for 20 minutes then did 4×10 minutes in my “Tempo” zone – sub-lactate threshold, RPE (rate of perceived exertion) of about 6/10 with 5 minute easy recoveries. Then a 20 minute cool down where I spent the first 10 minute in an moderate endurance zone. I alternated between a higher cadence (~95rpm) and a lower cadence (~78rpm) on the intervals. Higher cadence tends to work the aerobic system a little more as I am pushing a smaller gear. The lower cadence is to help build some leg strength with the bigger gear.
I was able to keep the power pretty stable across each interval, although in the last tempo interval at the lower cadence you can see a bit more variation as my legs were starting to fatigue a bit. I also noticed I had to concentrate a little more to keep the power up. Overall it was definitely a solid workout, and I followed it with 20 minutes of stretching.
What does your trainer room look like?
Nicole
